The Q and I
by AlexG
Summary: *I've changed some spelling and dialogue in Ch. 1-4 and added Ch. 5* Q, who has declared himself the king of a Delta Quadrant planet, requests Voyager's help to save the planet from an imminent alien massacre. Read and rate.
1. To the Kingdom

Star Trek:  
  
Voyager  
  
The Q & I  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Kathryn Janeway awoke at 0500 hours and knew something was wrong. Every instructor she had ever had at the academy said the best captains relied on three things: their crews, their ships, and their instinct. And right now, she was filled with an inexplicable sense of foreboding. She had come to know this same feeling ever since Voyager had been thrown into the far reaches of the Delta Quadrant on its maiden voyage. That had been six years ago, and since then she had taken on the Kazon, the Vidiians, the Hirogen, the Borg, and more than enough threatening alien races to fill in the boring days. In fact, boring days were few and far between out here, and often considered a precious commodity.  
  
Janeway got out of bed and logged onto her computer. She went over every system, trying to find the source of her apprehension. The communications system was in perfect order. The navigational deflector was at 98 percent efficiency, and the shields were being repaired after a navigational error had brought the ship out of warp a little to close to a gravimetric shear this morning. The matter/antimatter reaction chambers were undergoing routine maintenance. The Impulse and Warp drives were working well, and the sensors and probes were in good repair and in good supply, respectively. The structural integrity field, however, was functioning just enough to allow the ship to go to warp without being crushed like a tin can. The transporters were almost perfectly, save for targeting scanners 3 and 5, which had been physically ripped off of the hull in the incident earlier today. And finally, last on the list, as Janeway always thought it should be on a science vessel, were the weapons: the phasers and photon torpedoes. The phasers were fine, and the torpedoes worked as well, or they would have, if there actually were any.  
  
So, the ship was not the cause of her concerns. That gave her a sense of comfort, knowing that the ship was in relatively good condition, but it also made her even more nervous, because if the ship wasn't the reason for her seemingly unwarranted fear, something else was.  
  
  
  
She looked at the clock - it read 0700. The night was over as far as sleep went, anyway, so she decided she would go to the bridge early today. In fact, she went early nearly every day. True, the stresses of command often made her tense, and she couldn't remember the last time she was well rested, but she loved the challenges the Delta Quadrant had to offer her. Though they were far from home, Janeway knew she wasn't the only one who didn't want to miss any of this opportunity. That was what the Delta Quadrant was - a gold mine of new space to explore, and a once in a lifetime chance, because it would take nearly a lifetime even to arrive here, and forget going back to report what you had seen. In that respect, the Caretaker had done them a great favor. All the crew had to do now was return with every sensor reading and visual log they could. The sense of truly unexplored space, being the first federation crew ever in the Delta Quadrant, brought Janeway back to her childhood in the big fields surrounding her house in Indiana. At a very young age, young Katherine had learned to love a fresh snowfall, because the next day promised adventures to rival all others. And the most wonderful moment was taking that first step in the crisp, even snow, because it let her feel as if she were the first person ever to step upon that land. There were no footprints of any kind. The snow was a big blank canvas for her to create whatever she wanted: snow angels, snowmen, and maybe even an occasional snow Vulcan. She loved that feeling, and as she grew she came to know it as the explorer in her. Being the first to see a place, before anyone else, to be able to say that you had actually discovered something, was truly remarkable. That was what drove her onward, even in the face of danger to herself, her ship, and her crew. That was the kind of thing she lived for. And so she embraced the day. She took a sonic shower, replicated a clean uniform, walked toward the door... and slammed right into it. After shaking her head a few times to clear it, she reached for her comm badge, and promptly realized it wasn't there. She had forgotten to attach it. How could the commander of a starship make such careless mistakes? Maybe she should go back to bed after all. She picked the badge up off of its place on the nightstand, attached it in its usual place, and tapped it.  
  
  
  
"Janeway to engineering."  
  
  
  
"Go ahead" came B'Elanna Torres' voice. She sounded tired, and after crawling around in a matter/antimatter reaction chamber for 4 hours, she had every right to be.  
  
  
  
"I know you're busy B'Elanna, but I have a minor situation here. I'm in my quarters and the doors won't open."  
  
  
  
"Just a moment, I'll run a diagnostic." B'Elanna said. A few minutes of silence went by, and then B'Elanna chuckled softly and said, "Captain, I think it might open if you disengaged the lock."  
  
Janeway was really taken aback by her own stupidity, and then remembered B'Elanna was still on the line. "Thank you, B'Elanna, and I'm sorry for bothering you."  
  
  
  
"It's no problem, captain. Is something on your mind?"  
  
  
  
"Only everything. Janeway out."  
  
Harry Kim sat alone on the bridge of the starship Voyager, with only his thoughts to keep him company. This was the part of the day he most looked forward to. The night shift had just left, leaving him alone on the bridge. Soon the day shift would come and interrupt his solitude, but he had about a half hour just to him. And in that half hour, he was in control of the ship. He was alone in the brain of the mighty vessel. In an emergency, the ship would do anything he asked, relying on him to make all the decisions for it.  
  
Yes, were emergencies to arise, the one known as Ensign Eager would rise up and lead the ship valiantly out of danger... if anything were to happen. But today had been uneventful, so Harry was content to stand at his station behind the OPS console, carefully watching the status reports for any change that might warrant summoning Commander Chakotay, or even the Captain herself.  
  
  
  
Actually, were anything to happen tonight, the Captain would already know. Harry's console showed two people logged onto the ship's status display. One was B'Elanna Torres, the ship chief engineer, who was most likely checking for any problems in any system anywhere on the ship. Torres was a good worker, although sometimes bit too thorough. She would go without sleep for days just to perform routine operations. Running a diagnostic on the power distribution network meant, to Harry, running a simple diagnostic program to check for any errors. Running a diagnostic on the power distribution network meant to Torres, however, personally checking every wire, transmitter, and receiver in the whole array. If the ship were not at nearly constant warp velocities, she would probably check the outer hull of the ship for cracks on a regular basis.  
  
The other person logged onto the computer was Captain Janeway. Harry sighed. It looked as if, once again, the captain was losing sleep, probably over nothing more serious than a point-zero-three phase variance in the Bussard collectors.  
  
  
  
Harry was musing over these things when the captain suddenly signed off. Good. She was going to get some sleep. Harry liked Captain Janeway and respected her judgment, but if she kept pushing forward without sleep, he would say something about his concerns to Chakotay. After all, was the ship safe in the hands of a woman who was falling asleep in the middle of giving orders?  
  
  
  
Harry had been going over all these things in his mind, when the turbolift doors opened and Captain Janeway stepped onto the bridge. She looked tense, so in order to help cheer her, he stood tall and announced, "Captain on deck". It did the trick. She smiled before sitting down in her seat.  
  
They engaged in small talk for a short time. The senior staff came onto the bridge, and the day was looking to be routine and uneventful, but that was not to last. The ship pitched forward so sharply that Lieutenant Tom Paris was thrown over his console, then evened out once again.  
  
  
  
"No ships detected in the area," Tuvok, Voyager's chief of security, reported. "We are not under attack."  
  
Then the comm system was activated. "Engineering to bridge, this is Torres."  
  
  
  
"Go ahead, B'Elanna," Janeway replied. "What just happened?"  
  
  
  
"Well, it looks like that shear we ran into today did even more damage to the ship than we thought. I can't repair the ship while we're moving. We need to pull in at a port in order to repair the damage."  
  
  
  
"Understood. Janeway out" Janeway said. Then she turned her attention to Tuvok.   
  
"Tuvok, are there any planets nearby?"  
  
  
  
"Yes, captain. I am reading a single class M planet three light-years away. They have complex structures and what appear to be starbases."  
  
  
  
"Very good. Tom, set a course. Warp 5."  
  
Paris set the course, engaged the warp engines, and the ship was on its way. About an hour later, they arrived.  
  
  
  
"We are being hailed," said Tuvok, "by a King Quana, the ruler of the planet."  
  
  
  
"Put him onscreen," said Janeway.  
  
Tuvok complied, and what the bridge crew saw next surprised them to no end.  
  
  
  
King Quana said simply, "Kathy! Long time, no see!" The king recognized Captain Janeway, and well he should, since he was Q. 


	2. Appointment With The Squire

Star Trek:  
  
Voyager  
  
The Q & I  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"Q!" Janeway exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"  
  
  
  
"Oh, how do you stand this?" Q asked.  
  
  
  
"Stand what?"  
  
  
  
"Well, you have a screen the size of a small moon there, and I'm forced to speak to a screen the size of a postage stamp." There was a flash. The screen displayed an empty chair. "There! Much better! I always prefer a personal meeting, don't you, Kathy?" Q had zapped himself onto the bridge, and his multi-colored tunic had been replaced with his usual Starfleet uniform and his false Captain's rank.  
  
  
  
"Alright, Q," Janeway said, "Starfleet has had a number of encounters with you, isn't that right?"  
  
  
  
"But of course, Mon Capitan." He said in his usual, chipper voice.  
  
  
  
"And usually the captain begs you to leave and then you go ahead and do whatever you want anyway, right?"  
  
  
  
"I'd say that's a fair assessment, yes."  
  
  
  
"So this time, just tell me what you want and let's get this over with." Janeway said, with a great deal of sarcasm and a little attitude.  
  
  
  
"I am appalled!" Q said. "Appalled that you would speak to royalty in such a matter!"  
  
  
  
"Q, enough! Since when are you a royal being?"  
  
  
  
"Long enough to have the experience and wisdom of a truly seasoned leader." He said, exuberant pride creeping into his voice.  
  
  
  
"How long?" Janeway asked again, clearly not kidding.  
  
  
  
"About a week. Give or take a day, I can't recall."  
  
  
  
"And did these people elect you as their leader?"  
  
  
  
"Well, elect isn't really the word, Captain."  
  
  
  
"And just what is the word?"  
  
  
  
"Well, is there a specific word for descending from the sky in a pyrotechnic display with lightning and fire, then declaring yourself the leader of an entire planet and having the pagans do anything you desire?"  
  
  
  
Tom Paris spoke up, saying, "How about pompous fanatic?"  
  
Anger flashed into Q's eyes. "How dare you!" He changed his clothing once again, this time becoming an amazing likeness of King Arthur, crown and all. "Kneel, knave!" he yelled at the young lieutenant, and, against his will, Tom obeyed.  
  
  
  
"Q! Enough of this!" Janeway exclaimed. "Just leave us and we'll go get our repairs done somewhere else, preferably where the leader is not a raving lunatic."  
  
  
  
"Not now," Q said. "I was going to let you go, but now you insult me. No, now you will stay here as my first victory over another race. Your ship will be taken down to the planet and put on display. And as for you all, you will become my prisoners." He snapped, and 20 men armed with swords and whips entered from all the doors on the bridge. "Seize them!" Q screamed.  
  
  
  
"Yes, King Quana!" One of them said. The men grabbed the crewmembers, and then, at the snap of Q's fingers, everyone on the bridge vanished. 


	3. The Tyrant

Star Trek:  
  
Voyager  
  
The Q & I  
  
Chapter 3  
  
The peasant limped and stumbled as he walked; his badly damaged leg simply could not support him well. Nonetheless, he worked his way towards the enormous palace that was still a great mystery. It had shown up just fifteen cycles ago, and the man who dwelt inside was hardly ever seen, save by the people he had taken into servitude. And that was why the man came.  
  
Now the man was in the palace. The two massive wooden doors that led to King Quana's chambers were opened and he was ushered inside. He felt a moment of fear and contemplated running away. That option was taken away as the huge doors were shut and locked. The man looked toward the end of the great hall. He saw the king, seated on his throne, surrounded by the most elegant and expensive decorations. To the left and right were the doors to the dungeons, each guarded by two men. Each door led to a row of cells, and each cell had its own heavy locked door as well, also guarded by two soldiers. Anyone wishing to escape had to get by a great many guards, all with powerful weapons. The guards were something of a mystery to the people. They must have come with King Quana, for they were not of a race the oppressed people had ever seen. But there were many of them, and they seemed to come out of nowhere when the king summoned them. Their weapons, too, wore more than they appeared to be. The seemingly simple whips and blades did much more damage than they should have been capable of.  
  
The man had now reached the throne. He bowed and said, "My lord, I seek an audience with your greatness."  
  
"You may speak," King Quana said, "but mind carefully your words, knave."  
  
"I wish to beg for the release of our people. We allowed you to be king, believing that Medea sent you to be our leader, but you have done nothing but harm to us. You imprisoned our people and have destroyed many historical landmarks. The city has elected to ask you to leave. If you do not, I will petition that we remove you by force."  
  
"I have a better idea." Quana said. "Why don't we just imprison you before you can spread any more ideas around this stupid little village."  
  
"No, please! I beg of you! Do not imprison me!" The man screamed.  
  
"Oh, very well." Said Quana. "I'm not wholly unreasonable. You hate the thought of being in jail, don't you, knave?"  
  
"Yes, my lord."  
  
"Very well then. Guards! Take this man outside and execute him."  
  
"NO! PLEASE, KING, HAVE MERCY ON MY POOR SOUL!"  
  
"I've had enough of his whining. You have your orders!" Quana said to the guards. They dragged him away, and his screams could be heard fading into the distance. Kathryn Janeway had witnessed the entire spectacle, as she peered through the bars of her cell.  
  
"What kind of hellish place is this, Q?" She screamed at the man on the throne. He paid no attention to her. One of the guards did, however.  
  
He yelled, "Shut up, prisoner!" and then hit her in the face, hard. She fell onto her back, the force of the impact driving her back a few feet. She turned to face the rest of her crew. Janeway was there, along with Chakotay. Tuvok, Harry Kim, Seven of Nine, and Tom Paris had also been brought to the dungeon. B'Elanna was also here, but in a different cell; communication with here had proven to be less than productive and more than painful. Hopefully, the rest of the crew was still on Voyager, though from what Q had said, it was possible that they were facing extreme danger. 


	4. Attack in Engineering

Star Trek:  
  
Voyager  
  
The Q & I  
  
Chapter 4  
  
"Where do they keep coming from?" Lieutenant Carey asked to nobody in particular as he threw his empty phaser away and picked up a freshly charged one. He had taken charge of engineering after Lieutenant Torres had vanished. He and about 10 other engineers were hunched in a corner of the upper level of engineering, firing at the strange men that continued entering the room. Carey had not taken the man who entered with a whip and a sword to be a threat. He had lifted his phaser and called security. But the strange man has simply raised his whip and struck one of the young ensigns in the room. He had disintegrated upon impact. Then the man used the sword to hit a control panel. It should have held up to the assault easily, but instead it completely shattered under the force. He had proven to be vulnerable to phaser fire, which seemed to be his only weakness. Unfortunately, he was not alone in his endeavors.  
  
  
  
"For every one we destroy, two more take his place!" Kenneth Dalby exclaimed. "If they get near the warp core, we're all toast!"  
  
"Does anybody know what happened?" Carey asked. Nobody had a response for him. Well, that was no good. If he was going to find out what to do, he would have to contact the bridge. He tapped his commbadge. "Carey to Bridge." There was no reply. He tried again. "Carey to Captain Janeway. Please respond"  
  
* * *  
  
"Carey to Captain Janeway. Please respond".  
  
Captain Janeway looked at her commbadge with mild surprise. "It appears Q has decided not to restrict our communications."  
  
"Why would I, dearest Kathryn?" Q asked from his throne.  
  
"Logically," Tuvok stated in his usual, flat tone, "allowing us communication with Voyager would be a tactical disadvantage to you."  
  
"You flatter yourself, Mr. Tuvok." Q said. "Nothing your shipmates do could possible help you now."  
  
In the course of this exchange, Janeway's commbadge had gone unnoticed. It rectified that situation by chirping again. She tapped it to reply. Perhaps she was just nervous, but she was sure she could hear phaser fire in the background. She hoped she was wrong.  
  
"Janeway here. What is the situation, lieutenant?"  
  
"We're defending engineering from attackers. No matter how many of them we take down, they continue coming."  
  
"Hold your ground, lieutenant. Do not allow them to overtake engineering."  
  
"Yes, ma'am. We have also lost lieutenant Torres."  
  
"She's here, with us, on the surface of the planet. All of the senior staff has been transported here."  
  
"How? Our shields were functioning perfectly. How did they..."  
  
"We've had a visit from Q." Janeway said.  
  
"Understood." Carey said. There was no need for further words.  
  
"Do whatever you have to, lieutenant. Do not allow the ship to be overrun. Janeway out."  
  
  
  
As soon as Janeway had ended the communication, the prisoners were released from their cells and brought before Q.  
  
"Enough of this, Q." Janeway said. "What do you want from us?"  
  
"I want to make this kingdom a success!" he said. "And I intend to begin by taking your ship. First, my minions will commander your ship. Then it will be displayed in the public square as a trophy, the first of many, to commemorate our first victory in the Great War!"  
  
"War?" Chakotay asked. "What war? All I've seen so far is a one sided massacre. You create warriors to do your bidding and give them weapons that cannot be matched. Where's the war?"  
  
"You're wrong." Q said, "True. I could have conjured up invincible soldiers to do my bidding, but I didn't. Every soldier your crew have massacred is an innocent citizen of this planet who volunteered to join the army of his beloved king."  
  
"You mean..." Janeway asked.  
  
"That's right, Captain. So far, your ship has been responsible or the deaths of about 100 citizens of this backwater planet.  
  
Janeway didn't bother with insulting Q. She just hit her commbadge to be patched onto the ship wide intercom.  
  
  
  
"Everyone, hold your fire! The soldiers invading the ship are innocent citizens of the planet. Lay down your weapons and surrender."  
  
"You make things too easy for me, mon capitan." Q said. "The prime directive does make life difficult at times, doesn't it?"  
  
* * *  
  
The starship Voyager descended through the atmosphere of the planet and deployed its landing feet. It twisted around and came to rest on a huge pedestal 5 miles above the highest point in the town. The outer hull plating was suddenly turned to a rich, yellow gold, and a red banner appeared draped over the hull of the ship. It read:   
  
U.S.S Voyager  
  
Captured 392-58-5.7632-15629  
  
Under directive 687Q786 


	5. The Trophy Case

Star Trek:  
  
Voyager  
  
The Q & I  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Kathryn Janeway awoke some time later. She didn't remember having gone to sleep, but that didn't mean much; if Q was involved, anything could be happening. She looked around. The entire crew of Voyager had been transferred to Q's holding cell, in addition to the senior staff who had been there from the start. A guard was fiddling with the lock on Janeway's cell. He entered, pulled her up to a standing position, and forced her out the door, all without a word. He stood her next to Q.  
  
  
  
"Come, Kathy." He said. "I have something to show you."  
  
  
  
Janeway was about to resist, but stopped herself. She wanted her ship back. And if she was going to get it, she decided she should take her advice from the Ferengii: It never hurts to suck up to the boss. And, right now, that was definitely Q.  
  
  
  
He led her through many twisting passageways. They were dark and confined. The atmosphere reminded her of a Borg cube, except there were no foreboding noises, zombie-like cybernetic creatures, or technology coming out of the walls. Still, the lighting and overall design were about the same. The Borg cube had one advantage over the Maze Q was leading her through, though; she would rather take her chances with the Borg than be here with Q. After all, the worst thing the Borg could do was assimilate you. Q, on the other hand, could subject you to a fate worse than death. It took fiften minutes just to navigate the maze. When they finally turned the last corner, Janeway was stunned at what she saw. It was a ladder. Only the bottom 15 rungs were visible. Then the ladder continued up through a circular hole in the ceiling. She stood up next to it and looked to see where it led. It seemed to stretch upwards forever. If she didn't know better, she might have thought it stretched all the way back to the Alpha Quadrant.  
  
  
  
"Q, where are we going?" Janeway asked, the first words she had said since she awoke.  
  
"I have a little surprise for you." Q replied. He grabbone rung of the ladder, and it began to rocket upward. Tom Paris was interested in ancient history, and he had once told Janeway about shopping malls. They were an extraordinary concept for their time when, among other things, mankind still had a currency system. Many shopping malls had been equiped with escalators, which were automatic staircases. You stood on one step, and the step moved you to the top. It all seemed like a strange idea to Janeway. She figured that a real staircase was better... to begin with it went both ways. Still. she did see how it could be convenient. The ladder Q was riding operated on the same principle. Before he got too far ahead of her, she grabbed onto a rung, as well. The rungs moved at an accelerated pace. Janeway could feel the stress of inertia pussing her down as they sped higher and higher, faster and faster, up to the top. As they neared the exit point, the ladder gradually slowed, until it had stopped completely.  
  
"Look, Kathy." Q said. "Isn't it beautiful?"  
  
Janeway looked out the huge bay window at the top of the tower, and saw what Q was pointing at. It was Voyager, but not the voyager Kathryn knew. The ship had been turned to gold and a red baner was draped over the saucer section. Janeway imediately lost the control she had been working so hard to keep ahold of.  
  
"What have you done to my ship, Q?" she asked.  
  
"It's grand, isn't it?"he asked, pride in his voice.  
  
"No! It isn't grand! It's terrible! You've turned Voyager into a giant trophy!"  
  
"Yes but think about the morale this will inspire! This may be just enough to spur them on through the Great War! That, and their new queen!"  
  
"Their queen? Who?"  
  
"YOU! Who'd you think, Mary Magdeline?"  
  
"Oh no you don't, Q." Janeway said. "Not again. We've been through this before. The rose petals in the bathtub, the satin sheets, no."  
  
"Oh, come Kathy! I'm madly in love with you!"  
  
"You're married! You have a son!"  
  
"Bah. Married is such a loose term."  
  
"I'd expect this kind of behavior from a drunkard in a bar, Q, but not from you."  
  
"This isn't just about me, you know." Q said. He getsuted out the window to the city below. "It's about them, too. Without more morale, they'll never win the Great War!"  
  
"You keep talking about this 'Great War'. What's the Great War?" Janeway asked.  
  
"It's just this little skirmish... somehting about an alien doomsday that will come sometime this week.... plague, pestilance, that sort of thing."  
  
"And, conveniently, you happened to be here to help." Janeway said, sarcastically.  
  
"They think that Medea, their god, sent me to protect them."  
  
"So you enslaved them and now you're abusing them?"  
  
Q sat down on the floor and rested his back against the glass of the observation booth. "It's just to build up their strength. For some reason I just can't bear to see them defeated. They're so innocent and helpless. I can't believe it... I actually want to help them defeat whatever's coming. But I don't knopw why!"  
  
"It's the father in you." Janeway said, sitting down beside him.  
  
He turned to her. "Still, I can't do it without you. They need to see a queen with their king, and I can use all your help."  
  
"An omnipotent superbeing needs the help of a lowly Starfleet captain?" Janeway asked, skeptically.  
  
"Oh, I could just wipe out the invading force, but it wouldn't be right."  
  
'Give a man a fish...' Janeway thought to herself. 'Maybe Q will make a good father after all.' Then she spke to Q. "Alright, I'll do it. But first, I want my ship back and my crew returned."  
  
"Done." Q said. And he wasn't lying. No sooner has he spoken the word than Janeway found herself on the bridge with everyone else.  
  
  
  
"I'm not the captain," Chakotay said, "but I'd say a briefing is in order." 


End file.
